I just put egg shells or oyster shells in my feeder, along with their food to get them to eat it. At the end of my hens laying season, I found a few soft eggs, but I think that is just from their body's slowing down. I tried putting oyster shells and egg shells in a bowl for them to peck at... and the guineas were terrified at the strange object in their coop
They ended up dumping... so now it goes back in the feeder... Why does All Flock not work for you? And how?We had a similar event about ten years ago it was due to a parasite. Some micro worm. It's was tragic and took some time to get it under control. Because I am no expert I looked up folks whom are experts and this is one of them. ( not the original paper I read, this is updated in 2020.) I hope it helps. https://extension.psu.edu/deworming-backyard-poultryHello everyone! I know there has been other threads about this subject, but none really fit my situation, so I figured I would post again and hope someone might give me a little insight as to what the heck is going on!
Ok, so I have been keeping guineas for about 2 years. Started with 12, one died suddenly, but other than that they were great! I hatched around 30 from them this last spring and kept 25 to add to my flock. All has been going pretty good. Raised on mostly turkey/gamebird starter (a few times had to feed them chick when the feed store was out, but they got more gamebird than chick).
For the most part, the flocks (the originals and the new younger ones) mingled during the day, but since they were raised in different spots, one group goes to the barn, and one to their coop at night. All are trained to come back. At night they have a mixture of whatever feed I have on hand. Mostly high protein chicken pellets, sometimes scratch or dent corn. It depends on the day. They free range all day and mingle in the barnyard with turkeys, geese, ducks, and chickens.
Two things have changed a bit, and I'm not sure if there is any correlation. One, for a couple days, 4 of my ducks insisted on sleep in one of the guinea coops. No idea why, but I didn't bother removing them since it seemed fine. Now those four are back to sleeping in their coop
Also, the past few nights, all the old guineas have suddenly decided to come into the barn coop with the younger ones. For the past few months one or two would go in, but now all or almost all are sleeping in there.
Friday morning I found 2 dead guineas. It was surprising and sudden. It's been a busy week, but I don't remember any signs, and 2 in the same night made me very concerned. Not sure if they were younger or older ones.
Then last night as I was putting everyone away, I noticed one moving a tad slower than the others it was slight, but he was a tiny bit hunched and just moved different.
This morning, I found another one dead, and 2 didn't come out of the coop, they were just standing on the ground looking hunched. Not good.
The coop definitely needs a clean, so I am doing that today. (Could dry dusty poop cause something like this?) We recently had a ton of rain, so things are pretty mucky outside....maybe coccidiosis?? Would that be a problem for adult guineas like this? I've had that issue in my quail and baby poultry, but never in adult birds. Would it cause them harm to go ahead and treat them for that?
Also wondered if worms could cause this many deaths? Is there a way to tell, or should I just go ahead and worm the flock? I have a lot of guineas, is there a way to worm them without squirting something down their throat?
I also have some males that tend to bully others a lot. Could the older males now sleeping in the younger guinea coops be killing them? How would I know if that is the case? Not seeing any external signs of injury on the bodies.
Also, one last note, I found mouse poop in one of my feed bags. Not sure how long they've been pooping that bad, but could that cause deaths? I've gotten more tubs and am locking the feed up better now, but that worries me for sure. It's been maybe 4 days now since they have eating any contaminated feed. But if that might've caused it I'd love to know!
Well, sorry for the long post! I hope someone has some insight for me. I'm leaving for a week after Christmas, and this has me very worried, I don't want to loose anymore!
Any ideas or help appreciated! Thanks!
I have heard that using layer feed can give roosters (at least chicken roos) kidney problems, leading to early death. I just prefer feeding my birds the same food. I love my rooster, and so I just wanted to be on the safe side and go with my research. Plus it costs less
Hi! I tried inspecting it on the ground under the roosts...I wasn't able to see any abnormalities, one little poop looked a little more runny, but I couldn't find any full blown diarrhea or bloody stools. All the rest I could find were normal dry guinea poops! Granted there are over 20 roosting in there, so odd poop could've gotten buried!
Ok! I will go ahead and treat them coccidiosis. I will also look into the other two possibilities, thanks for the ideas!
Your welcome! I hope it works!
About a quarter layer feed andthe rest All Flock.
